Scary

As Barack Obama's poll numbers drop below 40 percent approval, he appears to withdraw further and further into fantasy. To wit:

When questioned about the IRS scandal in which the IRS was weaponized to harass groups who oppose the president, Obama said there was not a "smidgen of corruption" and by implication, that the scandal was ginned up by FoxNews. Of course, an on-going FBI investigation has not been concluded, the IRS official most closely connected to the scandal has taken the 5th in front of congress, and congressional hearings indicate that there is considerably more than a "smidgen" of truth to wide spread concern about the IRS's activities, all coordinated from Washington, DC.

In the State of the Union address, Obama argued that “American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria’s chemical weapons are being eliminated.” This is, of course after the "red line" and "Assad must go" debacle. George Will writes:

Reuters recently reported that Assad had surrendered “4.1 percent of the roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents” he supposedly has. The “.1” is an especially magical number, given the modifier “roughly” attached to 1,300 tons.

A 4 percent reduction is a very weak start, but in reality, chemical weapons in Syria are far from "eliminated."

But why stop with these two instances?

Obamacare is "working" even though millions more will loose their insurance when the employer mandate kicks in; the CBO reports a net reductions in the labor force by 2016 and more important, increases in overall costs, and the same number of poeple will remain uninsured, even after Obamacare is solidly in place. But those are just piffles, Obamacare is "working."

The "economy is on the rebound," even though our national debt continues to grow at about $1 trillion a year (on average over the Obama years), workplace participation rate is at a 30 year low, and far too many recent college grads live in their parents' basement. No worries, the president's words trump reality every time, don't they?

George Will comments:

Barack Obama, the first president shaped by the celebratory culture in which every child who plays soccer gets a trophy and the first whose campaign speeches were his qualification for the office, perhaps should not be blamed for thinking that saying things is tantamount to accomplishing things, and that good intentions are good deeds. So, his presidency is useful after all, because it illustrates the perils of government run by believers in magic words and numbers.

Fantasy = magic words + numbers.

Scary.